Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Wednesday labeled the United States “essentially a nation of cowards” when it comes to race relations.

WHEN can we discuss racism among minorities?

Attorney General Eric Holder is spot on 100% correct, racism has not been addressed.

Actually, we have addressed white people' racism in large measure (not in totality, not completely), but we have ignored the racism of minorities for far too long.

Hate is a two way street. When minorities can admit that they have been harboring much hate in their hearts for too long, MAYBE we can begin to heal the rift.

The vast majority of racism I encounter on any given day is that of minorities directed at whites. Of course, we have not even been taught how to discern racism among non-whites.

Another issue is that large numbers of whites like myself, had their families come here AFTER slavery and many of them were held in near slavery for seven years (indentured servitude) and that connection is never discussed during black history month.

The problem will not be solved as long as we continue to practice this intellectual dishonesty (ignoring minority racism and ignoring how much whites have struggled as well as minorities).

Get all excited because whites are at the top, but ignore the whites that are on the bottom? I call that hypocrisy.

The origin of the word slave is one that denotes a 'slav', one who is white Caucasian (like from the caucuses region), like from YugoSLAVia.

Yes, white people were slaves as well as blacks (but ignoring that aspect of history is convenient for scapegoating white people and trying to make us feel 'guilty' all the time and that we 'owe' black people a free ride).

Can we address the cowardice among minorities and others that stops us from addressing all racism, not just racism among whites.

If hate is bad, then all hate is bad (and is worthy of discussion), not just white people's hate.

He can call us cowards; I call most of them hypocrites (often of the highest rank).

(copies of this have been sent to NPR, fox news, glennsacks.com, and to the president of the USA - I sent him a similar email a week or so ago. The issue of racism among minorities has long bothered me, in part because it is such a taboo subject. I do not see how we can heal the rift if we are not even allowed to discuss it. Despise me if you like-here is another reason-but i have been challenged by a very powerful leader of our community to NOT be a coward and to step up and discuss a 'Tough Issue' and one that has not been welcome in the past.

Our esteemed moderator be blessed for his generosity of spirit and our web host as well (thanks).

The ATH internet therapy continues. It is not a big deal nor that controversial today to acknowledge that racism is a two way street and that today's white people aren't responsible for all of black people's problems. It's not a tough issue, it's not a particularly courageous thing to bring up, and the idea that we need to be taught to "discern" black (or other nonwhite) racism is unsubstantiated. And I have been far from drowned with any suggestion that I or anyone else is "guilty" for racism or past events, or "owes" anyone a "free ride." The arrival of whites after slavery is not discussed in black history month because it is not black history, nor relevant to it, as the slavery of the slavs does not negate the wholly unrelated manner of the slavery of African ancestry. There is no "connection.

You must live in a different nation. I hope that things improve there; we cannot send aid, however, because all of us are busy dealing with real concerns such as work, or the lack thereof, attacking the AIG bonuses, and going to martial arts classes.

May I ask what you think the POTUS and major news outlets are going to do with your email?

The arrival of whites after slavery is not discussed in black history month because it is not black history, nor relevant to it...

Actually, you may have betrayed your position. The fact that there is a black history month is in a way what Harvey's getting at. Even if its OK to have a black history month (which I believe), we all know what would happen if we had a white history month. Or any association or group dedicated to the history of caucasians alone. Just that very notion is called "racist". Indeed, we even use the term "reverse" racism, which makes me absolutely furious. What does that mean?

We all know it means that racism normally comes from whites, and that we occasionally have the isolated, rarified incident where a non-white person demonstrates racist behavior.

Its complete bullsh*t, and I don't think its been brought up nearly enough.

I have begun (occasionally) to respond to black racism with a simple line that makes em laugh.....and gets em to admit even sheepishly that they are often as racist if not more so than many white people are accused of being......

"So, how long have YOU been a hatin' on whitey?"

A couple of weeks ago, I was driving down the street and came up to the red light with the window open and the radio playing and me beatin' on the dash to the rhythm of the song and a pair of African American men began to make fun of me for daring to have a little harmless fun (and daring to have a musical genre that i liked that was not their fave).

"What?"

"So, how long you been a hatin' on whitey?"

it is hard for them since this was likely the first time that they were called out on their racism......

I grew up in African American neighborhoods in New Haven, CT. I have been to African American neighborhoods in NYC, LA, Boston, & FL. I dont exactly live in the deep south, but I never felt like much of a yankee until I moved here.........

We do have an issue of racism among the whites here, but it has been addressed so much more than the racism among the African Americans.

Nice shame job, but I dont shame very well anymore......Have been shamed for so long for things I did not do that this no longer has any effect......

The words racist & sexist have almost no meaning anymore since they have been used so loosely for so long for such a limited strata of society.

The sexism that really interests me is the kind that is mostly ignored, sexism against men or sexism among women (and men aimed at men). Seeing as I perpetrated this form of sexism for some long time, I know it like the palm of my own hand.

Imagine if during black history month it was taught that blacks AND whites were brought to this country as slaves. Whites could empathize with blacks and blacks could empathize with whites. There is no need to suggest that these two forms of slavery were equal, but it might be more ACCURATE to portray all the facts, not just the convenient ones for the ideology of the age.

Black history month is not just for blacks, it is for whites, too (for whites and others to learn what blacks had to deal with). If the issue of slavery is to be discussed during black history month, it would be more honest to admit that blacks were not the only ones to be brought here as slaves.

"I believe, that racial groups; and sub family groups within racial groups, behave as they do because of the genetic, neurological, and cultural influences that are inherent within them."

It seems reasonable that there are some genetic differences between the races because these are obviously driving physical differences--for example, you are going to see more west african heritage people winning sprints and more east african heritage people winning marathons, because of some physical differences ON AVERAGE, and despite of the ineffective classification of both groups as "black."

I am aware of NO data that genetic or "neurological" (what does this mean if not genetically determined differences?) factors determine behavior. One has only to look at vast differences in the behavior of one genetically linked population across time and space, for example, forgaging communities vs agricultural communities in Africa, vs the huge change in behaviors of their descendants in the USA, vs Haitians, who in "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World ORder" are described as "as foreign" to blacks from Africa or the rest of the area as they are to Minnesotans (my paraphrase). That's ALL culture, NONE genetics; meanwhile, culture isn't "inherent" in a group; that's the point, it's taught, instead.

Culture clash, and perception of "otherness" drives much conflict, and race just often correlates with that. Hence you find some people growing up in racially mixed communities without a concern in the world about it, and other people fighting tooth and nail in northern ireland over perceptions of cultural differences (religion and national affiliation) rather than race.

Sometimes I glean some words of wit from the forums that work out nicely for me as well. To wit:

I'm a "mutt". "Heinz-57" is what I generally use to refer to my racial composition. I'm 100% American with racial heritage that includes a number of racial/ancestral backgrounds. Looking at me, I'm "white" and my Daddy (who could have done so with his "percentages") was adamant that we are American without hyphenation! He refused to discuss or claim anything else and I was raised to fill out every needed form in a manner that doesn't include any "racial" preference. I have some good friends who are "brown"... Indian (both kinds... "Native American" and from India ) and friends who are "black" (so it's just other different shades of "brown"... and this group includes the wonderful Kenyan woman that we get daycare from for my very light-skinned, blue-eyed, light-brown - sandy-blond - haired 3 year old). My son plays with and we are friends with children/people who go across the spectrum of color, race, culture, and heritage, so the last thing we ever think about is any of those things when making our opinions of people.

Anyway, the other night I was with a rather large group of people who were a majority "black" and was introduced to someone by a (happened to be black) friend of mine as "Panther". Someone in the group that I had just been introduced to (who also happened to be black) took GREAT umbrage at my having that nickname and very loudly proclaimed that I should not be allowed to have/use it because it has "special meaning to the BLACK community". (His words, his emphasis...) Which, finally, brings me to the reason for this post:

I plagiarized/used ATH's phrase, "So... How long you been hatin' on whitey?" (with a little smile naturally...) Over the next 30-45 minutes I actually started to feel sorry for that poor guy because ALL of his friends were giving him such a hard time for being a racist and even took him to task when he tried to pull the old "I can't be a racist because I'm black" excuse! I had moved on, but still within earshot for the whole thing (which got rather loud with the entire group actually laughing at him and calling him out!) The end of it was that he started nervously looking around until he spotted me (with another group at this point), came and grabbed me pulling me back over and apologized! He then said in front of everyone, "You're alright niggah..."

I used that as yet another "teachable moment" and pointed out that if I called HIM that, I'd get in trouble, so I don't use that word! The whole group died laughing (and I must admit to chuckling some myself) and proclaimed that I was "officially allowed to use the term 'niggah' as a 'term of endearment' too. (FYI, I still don't use it because of the connotations, but it is a commonly used term in that circle and it seems that especially with many of the younger ones that they're actually embracing it as "theirs"... interesting... but not enough to make this old man change his ways or feelings about the word. Words have meanings and sometimes those meanings aren't very nice... I don't want my little one to grow up with those prejudices.)

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